The Channeled Scablands of Eastern Washington As we enter Washington from the east, we immediately run into the gentle rolling hills of the Palouse country. If we continue to travel westward, we suddenly enter a heavily scarred land of barren rock, channels and canyons. Rugged cliffs, basalt rock basins, concave cliffs and even giant ripple marks line the landscape. We have just reached the edges of the Channeled Scablands of Eastern Washington. The bleak but intensely unique landscape causes us to ponder the origin of the land formations. "What could have happened here?" The answer is the largest, most violent floods that man has ever known. Geologist J. Harle